Improvement in fences



H. s. I ROSS. Field Fence. No.- 10,015,

Patenteq gp t I3, 1853.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIcE.

, HERVY S. ROSS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,015, dated September 13, 1853.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, I-IERVY S. ROSS, of Oincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have i11- vented new and useful Improvements in Field-Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification.

Two prominent objects of utility in my invention are its adaptation to situations exposed to heavy floods and the easy removal of the fence from one place to another.

In the accompanying drawings a fence embodying my improvements is represented.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an entire range of panels included between two conseeutive posts, Fig. 2 showing the method of hanging the panel to the first post; Fig. 3, the device for hooking together the consecutive panels in all cases except the two middle ones; Fig. 4, the mode of connection and provision for unshipping of the two middle panels.

a are posts placed well in the ground and properly shored and anchored. These posts are provided with hooks b for the reception each of an eye 0, or vice versa, near the midheight of the post on the adjacent panel cl. The outer sides next to the posts of the styles of these panels are somewhat chamfered, so as to admit of their being drawn somewhat to the right. The styles at the other end are also chamfered in a parallel direction and the adjacent styles of the next panels in a contrary one, so as to bring the outer sides of the styles in contact by placing this setof panels to the left. Placed near the top and bottom, respectively, of this joint and on the salient side of the angle thus formed are two sets of hooks e and eyes f, whicl1,being first engaged, become securely interlocked by bringing the panels to the proper angle. The next pair of panels will have the same direction as the first, and so forth, forming a zigzag arrangement. There may extend between post and post any number of panels that may be found desirable. hen the fence is in a situation exposed to floods, one post should not have to sustain more than eight panels 011 each side of it, making sixteen panels in all from post to post. I should here observe, however, that not nearly this number could be sustained by even a well-anchored post subjected to a violent flood but for the provision about to be described, which causes each intervening portion to separate midway between the posts, and thus allows a string of panels to swing forward from each post, and by thus falling into line with the stream to avoid its fury, and after the flood has subsided they can be readily unhooked and replaced in their original position. The contrivance by which this separation at the proper place is effected is as follows: Of the two adjacent edges of the two middle panels one is provided with hooks i, which, pointing upward and outward, receive eyes 3' on the other panel. The first panel has at its lower edge a sloping board 70, leaning toward the hill, and the other panel has at its lower edge a similar board Z, leaning in the opposite direction, the consequence of which is that a descending flood, while it tends to press the first-named panel closer to the ground, tends at the same time to elevate the other and to lift the eyes off of the hooks, and thus, each set of panels being liberated, they swing forward before the current, and the single swivel-joint at the posts allowing the panels to assume a horizontal position they float easily and with very little drag on the surface of the water.

The materials of which this fence is composed can all be got out by a saw-mill, and both before and after framing they are very compact and easily transported-a material advantage to districts devoid of timber, such as prairie countries. It is frbm its portability excellently adapted for a temporary fence, and it can, if desired, be stacked away under cover during winter.

Owing to the small proportion of the posts which are under ground much destruction by rotting is avoided, and the labor incurred in digging is much less than in most fences.

I claim as new and of my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The herein described zigzag and interlocked arrangement of panels supported by a swivel-joint to posts at suitable intervals and having the joint between the two mid dle panels furnished with inclined hook and eye, each of said middle panels being pro- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set vided with boards sloping in opposite direcmy hand before two subscribing Witnesses. tions, so that by the action of a flood each half of the intervening line of panels may] HERVY S. ROSS. separate midway and swing in direction of \Vitnesses:

the current, or devices substantially equiva- GEO. I-I. KNIGHT,

lent. J. H. GETZENDAUNER. 

